*** Remember, with many exam boards, formulae will be given to you in the exam. However, you need to know how to apply the formulae and learning them (especially the simpler ones) will help you in the exam. ***

A prism is a shape with a constant cross section, in other words the cross-section looks the same anywhere along the length of the solid (examples: cylinder, cuboid). The volume of a prism = the area of the cross-section × the length. So, for example, the volume of a cylinder = pr² × length.

Areas:
The area of a triangle = half × base × height
The area of a circle = pr² (r is the radius of the circle)
The area of a parallelogram = base × height
Area of a trapezium = half × (sum of the parallel sides) × the distance between them [ 1/2(a+b)d ].

When working with lengths try to use metres if possible and when working with mass, use kilograms.

1cm² = 100mm² (10mm × 10mm)
1cm³ = 1000mm³ (10mm × 10mm × 10mm)

Ratios of lengths, areas and volumes
Imagine two squares, one with sides of length 3cm and one with sides of length 6cm. The ratio of these lengths is 3 : 6 (= 1 : 2). The area of the first is 9cm and the area of the second is 36cm. The ratio of these areas is 9 : 36 (= 1 : 4) .
In general, if the ratio of two lengths (of similar shapes) is a : b, the ratio of their areas is a² : b² . The ratio of their volumes is a³ : b³ .
This is why the ratio of the length of a mm to a cm is 1:10 (there are 10mm in a cm). The ratio of their areas (i.e. mm² to cm²) is 1:10² (there are 100mm² in a cm²) and the ratio of their volumes (mm³ to cm³) is 1:10³ (there are 1000mm² in a cm²).

Dimensions
Lines have one dimension, areas have two dimensions and volumes have three. Therefore if you are asked to choose a formula for the volume of an object from a list, you will know that it is the one with three dimensions.

Example:
The letters r, l, a and b represent lengths. From the following, tick the three which represent volumes.

pr²l
2pr²
4pr³
abrl
abl/r
3(a² + b²)r
prl

NB: Numbers are dimensionless so ignore p, 2, 4 and 3.
The first has three dimensions, since it is r × r × l.
The second has two dimensions (r × r).
The third has three dimensions (r × r × r).
etc.
3(a² + b²)r is the third formula with three dimensions. The expanded version of this formula is 3a²r + 3b²r and 3 dimensions + 3 dimensions = 3 dimensions (the dimension can only be increased or reduced by multiplication or division).